Audit criticizes paying county fiscal analyst

Thursday

Dec 26, 2013 at 5:24 PM

A state audit of Anderson County government has pointed out a problem with County Mayor Terry Frank’s paying of a part-time fiscal analyst in spite of the County Commission’s denial to pay for the position.

Donna Smith/The Oak Ridger

A state audit of Anderson County government has pointed out a problem with County Mayor Terry Frank’s paying of a part-time fiscal analyst in spite of the County Commission’s denial to pay for the position.

Transferring money to pay for the position was twice denied by Anderson County Commission during the last fiscal year. The denials were political in nature, Frank said, and aimed directly at her.

Shortly after being elected Anderson County mayor, Frank hired Oak Ridge businessman Tom Shope as a fiscal analyst and internal auditor to look at ways to save money in county government.

The recent state audit report on the last fiscal year has a “finding” concerning Shope’s pay of $22,740 “despite denial of the appropriation for this salary by County Commission.”

The audit states that county Budget Director Chris Phillips in December 2012 requested the money be transferred from the “Other Administration of Justice” account to an account to pay for the position, which the county Budget Committee headed by Frank approved and recommended that Commission approve it.

But Commission denied the action later that month. The audit also points out that the employee had been hired in late November.

In May, Phillips again asked for a budget amendment to pay for the position, an action which was again approved by the Budget Committee and referred to Commission for approval, and again denied.

State law points out that Commission must approve the use of all funds, plus the Commission-approved budget resolution states that the wages of each county employee must not be more than set forth in the budget.

The state auditors’ recommendation is that “expenditures be held within appropriations approved” by the Commission.

The audit report includes the county “management’s response” to the finding, which states that although they agree a payroll budget code was overspent but that the “detail given and length of the written finding is unprecedented” and more than other findings in the budget, which included overspending ranging from $1 to $25,768 within the departments of the county schools’, highway, federal projects, highway, sanitation and library.

“Several concessions and budget cost saving measures were implemented in order to make available the funding” for the position. “The Commission chose not to approve the transfer request that the Budget Committee had approved in May after it was apparent that cost savings measures were achieved without the need for an appropriation request.”

The state auditor responded that despite cost-saving measures, the Commission still has the authority to approve or deny budget transfer requests.

County Commissioner Myron Iwanski of Oak Ridge, who heads the Audit Committee, stated: “The audit report raises a serious issue with overspending in the mayor’s office. County Commission questioned the need for another high paid staff position in the mayor’s office several times during the year and turned down the request twice.

“I have been chairman of the audit committee for most of my years on County Commission and this finding is very unusual in that the mayor decided to intentionally and knowingly violate the law. County Commission takes audit findings very seriously and has worked with department heads to avoid them. The Audit Committee will meet to take up this issue once departments have had a chance to put together a response on how they will prevent such findings in the future.”

Asked to respond to the audit finding Friday, Mayor Frank said she is aware of Commission denying only two budget transfers and both of them were these two concerning Shope’s position.

“I feel some commissioners were trying to politically get at me and because of that, Accounts and Budgets (Department) gets the black eye,” she said in an email. “I apologize to my staff because I think the target was me, not their job performance.”

“The accounting office did not overspend their budget, that is, they achieved cost savings within their department,” she said.

Donna Smith can be contacted at (865) 220-5502.

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